The Slip Up
by irene n valley
Summary: Just when you thought America couldn't be anymore dense, he goes off and tells his new friend the secret of the nations...read how their friendship began and how it all went down... Human OC, no yaoi, is pretty clean... so enjoy!
1. Prologue

**The slip up: Prologue**

_Ten minutes early, I should review the Plato document again for the seminar…I feel so tired though…not even my coffee's helping… I could just rest until the bus gets here… I won't go to sleep or anything… just rest my eyes for a bit…_

Those were the dangerous thoughts running through my head as I sat waiting for the city bus. A loud cry of pain woke me up. I shot up from the bench, scattering my school papers everywhere. To my surprise, I saw a handsome blond man in front of me. He glared with piercing blue eyes behind his glasses at a man on the ground, who had a bloody nose and was whimpering. From what my scattered mind could gather, the handsome man in front of me seemed to have punched the poor guy. The man on the ground scrambled away when he saw me wake up. The handsome man turned to me and his icy eyes turned warm and cheery. He gave a goofy grin and began picking up all my scattered papers. He said in a loud voice that hurt my poor tired head

"Ha Ha! You're lucky that I, the hero, we're here to save ya dude!"

This was the beginning of the end so to speak, this was how I first met Alfred F Jones. Or, as you might recognize him, The United States of America.

**AN: this is the second of my two America-centered fics. This and "**_**I'M A HERO"**_** will both have very short chapters like this and will be updated pretty frequently…**

**Please review with your thoughts so far… I promise this gets better!**

**Until next time,**

**-Irene**


	2. The Hero and the Friend

**The Slip Up: The Hero and the Friend**

I barely noticed the guy with the broken nose run away; I was too busy staring at the strange handsome guy in front of me. He had scruffy wheat colored hair, sparkling blue eyes danced beneath his glasses. He had a muscular frame and everything from his accent to his t-shirt with the American flag on it just screamed patriotic American. He handed me my papers, but the smile left his blue eyes when he asked worriedly

"Are you ok bro?"

I nodded distractedly as I took my schoolwork and shoved it into my shoulder bag along with my old laptop. I checked my watch and groaned. It's been over twenty minutes! I was going to be late! I hurriedly thanked the strange guy, and made the attempt to walk away when I felt warm arms around my shoulders as the man stopped me. He smiled in such a cheery way I felt myself catching it as he said

"Dude, you don't look too good, wanna ride? I can take you back to your place or something…"

He seemed like a friendly enough guy and all, but I wasn't going to get in some stranger's car anytime soon, hero or otherwise, so I just said

"Nah, thanks for the offer though and for saving me or whatever…"

He eyes darkened for a moment as he muttered something that sounded like _"idiot like that…"_ and _"…thinking of messing with __**my**__ citizen…"_ but he brightened once again and said

"Aw shucks it was nothing dude! All in a day's work for a hero like me! Ha ha!"

I don't know if my brain was working properly because before I knew it, I had let this guy convince me to take the day off from school, Me! A straight A+, goodie two shoes, teacher's pet skipping school? It was unheard of, but this guy made it all sound so reasonable and fun. I soon found myself in his car and driving to goodness knows where, and the weird thing was, I was alright with it. I **enjoyed** it. I have lived a very sheltered life and never did anything 'fun' like this. Somewhere in my brain I knew that this was stupid, but the rest of my mind just went with it, letting the wind blow though my long hair and talking more than I had ever talked before to the total stranger. We laughed and chatted together and enjoyed a charming ride downtown in the cool crisp morning. It finally occurred to me that I didn't even know his name. It seemed like that thought occurred to him too at the same moment because he said

"Oh! I almost forgot! I'm Alfred F Jones, aka the Hero!"

I laughed and said

"I'm Amelia, Amelia Aether, aka you're new friend!"

…

Where did that come from?

…

Aw, with the way he's smiling at me I don't regret saying it, I'd only known him for less than an hour and I already knew it was true.


	3. A True Burger and a New Regular

**The Slip Up: A True Burgers and New Regular**

"Um… Al? Why are we parked in a McDonald's lot?"

" 'Cause dude! Hamburgers are food of the heroes yo! Plus, you look kinda sick, and everyone knows that burgers fix everything!"

"…you're nuts!" I laughed "I sure wouldn't want you around if I ever had a cold! What would you do? Put a burger on my forehead and say I'm cured?" I laughed even harder when Alfred pouted…

Wait…did he actually try that once? I bent over double laughing so hard at the mental image…but I feel so bad for the poor sap he tried to 'cure'!

I patted him on the back comfortingly and said

"Regardless, you shouldn't eat that fast food trash anyhow; you'll die of heart failure one of these days if you eat too much! Here, let's go out for some _true _burgers…"

It didn't take long for us for us to get to my uncle's diner after I gave my new friend the address. He seemed to know every inch of this city, hell; he seemed to know every inch of this _country_ by heart.

We walked into Bill's Diner soon after, the cheery silver bell announcing our arrival. I saw a large man behind the counter I recognized, I smiled and said

"Hey ya BoBo!"

My uncle Bill 'BoBo' Aether turned around with a warm smile on his whiskered face

"Halloo there Lia! I haven't seen your pretty little face around here for a while, who's your friend?"

He gave a roguish wink along with a merry twinkling in his brown eyes.

Oh good ol' BoBo, I just love that he's more interested in a potential boyfriend then the fact that I'm blatantly and shamelessly ditching school, but hey…that's just his style.

"This is Alfred,"

My uncle took my new friend's hand into his own large one and shook it friendly, if a bit roughly, but Alfred didn't seem to mind.

I told my uncle how we met and what we have been doing today, instead of scolding me about getting into a violent stranger's car; he was horrified that my new friend would even think about walking into a fast food place. Within moments Al and I were seated in a little window booth and uncle was in the back barking orders to the little cooking minions as I liked to refer to them. Alfred laughed his loud laugh at my uncle's antics and we were soon thrown into lively conversation again. Time passed very quickly and before we knew it, my uncle personally gave us two HUGE freshly grilled, sizzling hamburgers with his famous homemade fries and my regular dark chocolate butterscotch milkshake.

Alfred's eye grew as wide as saucers as he looked down at the amazing all American meal in front of him. After a moment, he seemed to get out of his shock because his fist pumped the air and ate the entire hamburger within seconds. I laughed again, if anyone else were to eat a hamburger in practically one bite I probably would be disgusted, being the proper little girl I am, eating something that quickly would be horribly rude, but somehow when Al, did it, it was funny and positively adorable. My uncle came back out to give us a refill on our drinks and was highly amused by my friend's goofy grin and empty plate. He laughed heartily and went back to make him another hamburger. I could only eat about half of my own burger, so I gave the rest to Alfred to hold him over until his second burger came. He grinned from ear to ear and said

"Aw thanks dude! You're the best!" and with that he gave me a quick hug from across the table and dug into the burger.

"You're uncle's a GOD!" he said after his 10th burger. Neither my uncle nor I had ever seen anyone eat so much in one sitting, even then he still whined for more! My uncle had never been more flatted in his entire life, his entire face was bright red and he had a wide enough grin to rival Alfred's. I swear my friend has the attention span of a sugar high squirrel, because the next moment he grabbed my hand, dropped the money for the food on the table and said

"Thanks Uncle B! I'm so coming back here soon! You've got yourself another regular!" he gave a thumbs up and a blinding smile and he dragged me out of the diner, saying that he had a "ridiculously awesome" place he wanted to show me. I couldn't pull away because of how unbelievably strong he was. I turned back right before we made it to the door to stammer out a quick apology and a thank you, but I needn't have bothered, for Uncle BoBo was chuckling heartily said something along the lines of

"You kids have fun" and "come back anytime", then he turned back to go shout orders to his little cooking minions to serve the rest of his costumers…


	4. The Why's of the North Americans

**The Slip Up: Why America is Acting Strange and Why Canada Doesn't Speak**

"You are joking, non?"

"No man! I just don't feel like a big Mac…"

A loud smack was heard as England slapped America across the face

"Listen here! Who are you and what have you done with America? Everyone knows that git loves hamburgers more than life itself, now out with it!"

"Iggy dude! It's me; I just don't feel hungry for McDonalds today…"

America slipped out of his grasp and walked out of the meeting room for his lunch break. The truth was that he had been spoiled and could no longer look at a flat, tasteless, greasy big Mac with the same enthusiasm. Lots of things had actually changed in the past week since he had met Amelia. On the first day, they went to this old amusement park an arcade and didn't get home until past 11:00 at night, he was worried that he had gotten her in trouble, but she seemed to skate by with little to no punishment given that her parents didn't quite give a damn. Since then, they had gotten together daily after her school ended to hang out, and America was missing her.

England and France looked at each other in identical bewildered looks. England said

"I just don't believe it… what on earth has gotten into that bleeding git?"

"I 'ave no clue mon ami… but 'e 'as been acting strange all day…"

Germany walked up behind them with Italy hanging off his arms. He said

"Hey, do either of you know vhat's vrong vis America? Iz he sick?"

"That iz what we are trying to figure out…"

"It's strange; the git didn't once interrupt or mention super heroes… I'm honestly worried about him…"

"ve~ I hope Mr. America is alright…"

"I am not goink to complain, ve actually had a pretty productive meeting thanks to him shutting up…"

The group of four nations felt a creepy aura surround them as Russia approached them

"Da, but I am too curious about little American comrade…"

Two of the Asian nations, China and Japan, came up too,

"Hai, he is acting pecuriar…"

"Maybe he is finally maturing aru~"

"Mature? That git? Ha! Hardly…"

"Well, zen what on earth iz wrong with 'im?"

"like I give a damn…he's not my problem anymore"

A soft voice in the very back of the group whispered "I know what's going on…"

Nobody heard him and they all continued to bicker about what could be wrong and what they should do, if they should even do anything about America's strange behavior. Canada, aka the whisper, tried to speak up again,

"Hey everybody… I hate to complain, but you aren't listening to me…"

Still nobody acknowledged him. That is, until Kumajiro leaped out of Canada's arms and bit France's leg. The Frenchmen leaped into the air about a foot and howled in pain as he hopped on one foot, much to the amusement of England and the others. After a long string of French curses filled the air, France whipped around to face his attacker only to see a floating bear, wait….nope, now that he looked closer there was a person holding the smug looking bear.

Kumajiro asked "who are you?" and the nation responded "Kumakachi, I am your owner, Canada…"

As soon as he mentioned the name, everyone in the room asked "Who?"

It suddenly clicked with France "Oh! Mon cher Mathieu! 'ow 'ave you been..."

Canada gave a weak smile, glad that he eventually got through "I have been fine papa France, but I wanted to say something. All you guys are worried because America's been acting strange eh?"

The nations gave a silent nod, urging for the quiet country to continue. He took a deep breath, a little nervous at all the attention, but he powered through

"America has been spending a lot of time with this girl…"

Just at those simple words the nations exploded in chaos. Canada tried speaking over them, to get back their attention and make sure that they didn't misunderstand… but it was too late. Everyone had come up with their own theories, some as simple as "he found a girlfriend and is just a little distracted', to outrageous ones like "he's been brainwashed by terrorist spies…"

Canada left the group shaking his head hopelessly and said to Kumajiro

"Kumajuno, remind me never to open my mouth ever again…"

"Who are you?"

"…I'm Canada…"


	5. Chapter 5 Duct Tape Challenge Accepted

**The Slip Up: Duct Tape-Challenge. Accepted.**

"That sounds suspiciously like a challenge, frog..."

"Ohonhonhon, it iz mon cher Angleterre..."

"Care to make it a bet then?"

"Ah oui!"

"Then it's a bet... I say that America's new friend is really some con-artist or spy. America is dense enough to fall for anyone's tricks, it would only be too easy for anyone with half a wit to convince him to do something stupid. Now if we could only find out her motive..."

"Urgh! You know nothing! It iz obvious zat it iz true l'amour! He has finally found a cute girl to spend time with, Which he needs! all he does outside of work is play video games with his little alien friend, eat junk food, and whatever else Americans do in their free time..."

"I propose that we make this into a little game, hmm? Let's say we each have until the end of the day to prove our theories..."

"Ohonhon, I like the way you think, what iz zee wager zen?"

England smirked and held out his hand for France to shake and asked "The usual bet then?"

The Frenchmen flicked his golden hair over his shoulder casually and took the Brit's hand and shook it firmly and said

"It's a deal."

America waited outside Amelia's school. Over the past week or so, every day he could after her school day ended, he would wait outside for her.

Nobody minded him at all, the nice guy Alfred Jones was cheery and always kind and helpful, always willing to help the teachers carry piles of textbooks to their car, always happy to lend a hand with everyone and everything. But today was different, that nice guy Alfred was pacing nervously back and forth in front of the iron gate of the campus. Amelia hadn't come out yet, she was usually out by 3:50 and it was 4:02 already.

Yeah he knew he was just being paranoid, but he couldn't calm his nerves for the life of him. Halley, one of Amelia's pretty little friends, walked out and spotted Alfred. She skipped up to him and said with her cheery smile

"Hey ya Al!"

He jumped in surprise then calmed down a bit and said

"Yo Halley! Is Amelia coming out soon? I totally got this new awesome video game and I promised Tony that I'd show her..."

Halley giggled and said "Aw, you're waiting for your little girlfriend then? So cute! No wonder you're so jumpy today..."

He gave an adorably awkward chuckle and bashfully rubbed his neck. Halley grinned and continued

"Well, unfortunately Amelia wasn't in school today, she looked a little sick yesterday..."

"Sick? No way man! That sucks!"

"Yeah, her folks are out of town, I was planning on coming by her place later after I was done with my homework."

Alfred shifted from foot to foot worriedly and bit his lip, "Maybe I should go see if she is alright..."

"I'm sure she's fine, Amelia gets sick like this every year." Her light blue eyes twinkled mischievously in a way that reminded him of a certain lewd frenchmen he knew, she continued "... but I'm sure she'd appreciate the company" she gave a little wink and skipped off.

America began walking away toward Amelia's house and didn't notice Halley turn around to meet with a strange 'teacher'...

France was leaning 'innocently' and 'casually' up against the far brick wall dressed in an exaggerated teacher costume. Halley walked up to him and put her hands on her hips, raised her eyebrows and swung her hip to the side to complete the pose. France was whistling 'innocently' and trying to ignore the accusatory glare in the girls eyes. She coughed lightly to get his attention and said

"Okay blondie, you get five seconds to prove to me that I shouldn't call security on you"

He clamped a hand over her mouth and whisked her away behind the wall, before she could even began to struggle she relized that he let her go. She was positively fuming, supporting the stereotype of redheads being hotheads. She gave a menacing glare and said with a growl

"What the hell was that?"

The man chuckled and swooped down to kiss her lips in hopes of silencing her. She froze in shook, then promptly kneed him in the crotch and started yelling

"RAPE RAPE RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPE!"

France had never been happier to see England when the brit came up at that moment and calmed the girl and explained their mission. Halley assured them that Amelia Aether was most certainly NOT some spy or anything and that she had a 'small' crush on Alfred. Her eyes sparkled deviously as she and France now schemed on how best to get them together officially as a couple.

Let's just say their plan involved ninja outfits, badass sunglasses, burgers, a flamethrower and duct tape.

_Lots and lots of duct tape._


End file.
